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Continentalism
Continentalism is a poltiical philosophy and historic movement that advocates for the restoration of the former United States through the unification of the its successor states throughout Anglo-America. The idea originates in the years following the American Civil War which saw the union disintegrate and eventually collapse at the hands of John Wilkes Booth following his assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the ensuing assassinations of Lincoln's entire cabinet. With the entire American leadership eliminated, remnants of the Confederate Army layed siege to Washington D.C. in what would become the Confederate Uprising and while the rebellion was crushed, it bought the Confederates enough time to reorganize and other successor states soon emerged with the sole legal one, the United Commonwealth, taking over much of the eastern and southern parts of the former United States to preserve the union and prevent its complete dissolution. In the years following the collapse of the United States, the leaders of the Commonwealth sought to preserve the country to save the union and attempted various negotiations with America's successor states, but to no avail. Despite the failed negotiations, the idea of unifying the former United States remains a prominate one in Anglo-American culture as groups and inviduals throughout the early modern and modern periods have pushed the idea of reintegrating the North American states and eventually unifying them into a single country where the United States of America would finally be restored. The idea of Continentalism itself is properly seen in the Conference of American States since all of the successor states of the former U.S. are members of the international organization and many advocates of American unionism have advocated to go further and reintegrate the North American member states into a single country, but such a move has not yet been proposed nor has any major CAS official offered any support or endorsement of the idea. Continentalism remains a prominent position within Anglo-American politics and many politicans have pushed forward the idea historically, but the vision on what a restored America would be has been the subject to much debate and controversy throughout the years. Today continentalism is often advocated for by various political organizations, minor political parties and other movements across Anglo-America. The World Continental Congress, established in 1912, remains the largest continental organization in the world and represents all continentalist political parties and organizaitons across the CAS and its members. Context Within Anglo-America, those pushing Continentalism, often called Continentals, are concerned with the idea that the nations that make up modern day North America should unify into a single country as a means of restoring the former United States. Arguments in favor of such and idea stem from how the cultures of the North American countries such as the United Commonwealth, Northeast Union and others, are very similiar and that the only thing seperating the people from being one are borders, flags, and politics. Advocates of Continentalism also point out how Anglo-American nations can wield significant economic, cultural, political and military power if they were to unify into a single nation and the wealth and knowledge gained could be used to benefit the world at large. History Main Article: History of Continentalism Early contintentalism Continentalism began to spring up following the Confederate Uprising on April 14th, 1865 where the surviving remnants of the defeated Confederate Army revolted against the United States and their actions resulted in the collapse and dissolution of the union. New nations had emerged and it wasn't long before support began to rise for the unification of the United States. Ulyssus S. Grant of the Union Army, who had managed to successfully supress the uprising in Washington D.C. and stopped the capital from falling, had attempted to establish a provisional military government with the intent on convincing the newly emerging states in the former United States to merge to restore the defunt union. Industrial revolution Early 20th century Separatist crisis Modern times Variants Traditional Continentalism Traditional Continentalism advocates for the restoration of the United States and its borders prior to the American Civil War and its dissolution. Traditional Continentalists also believe that the former American government, a federal constitutional republic, should be the new government of of the hypothetically restored America and the former United States Constitution is to also be the main governing document. The new nation is to be comprised of different states, though since much of the Midwest were organized as territories prior to the dissolution of the United States, Traditional Continentalists have been divided on how these new states would be established. Royalist Continentalism Royalist Continentalism, also called Monarchist Continentalism or Sierran Continentalism, advocates for the restoration of the former United States with the Government of Sierra being the main governmnent of a hypothetical restored United States. The Sierran Monarch would be the full sovereign of the United States and would be its official head of state and the prime minister the head of government. Royalist continentalists are split between supporting an absolute monarchy or a constitutional one, though most royalist continenalists side with the idea of a constitutional monarchy. Communist Continentalism Communist Continentalism, also known as Revolutionary Continentalism, advocates for the creation of a restored United States under the guiding principals of communism and other ideals espoused by Karl Marx. Communist Contientalists believe that a restored United States under the principals of communism would lead to the liberation of the "proletariats of Anglo-America from the exploitive capitalist and aristocratic classes" according to the Manifesto for Revolutionary Continentalism writen by Karl Rosenburg. Revolutionary Continentalists also advocate for a socialist United States or for an anarchist state across Anglo-America and differ on ideology and vision. Soft Continentalism Soft Continentalism is used to refer to to the unification of Anglo-America in more subtle cultural and political ways rather than full unification and the merging of Anglo-American nations into a single nation. Soft Continentalists often argue that the former United States can only be restored through means of union between the Anglo-American states instead of full unification because Anglo-America, while having similar cultural views, differ beyond just borders and full unification will face significant opposition if full unification was to be carried out. The Conference of American States is cited as a major success of Soft Continentalism and the only way to restore the former United States. Greater Continentalism Greater Continentalism advocates that all members of the CAS, including those outside of the former United States, should merge into a single unified nation. Greater Continentalists believe that all of Anglo-America will not be included if the nations in the American mainland were to merge and not the rest of the CAS and believe that the wealth and knowledge of Anglo-America will be able to spread faster if the entire CAS became a unified superstate. Greater Continentalists believe that a confederation would be the best form of government nad autonomy would be given to the states that make up the hypothetical Greater United States. Technocratic Continentalism Technocratic Continentalism believes that any restored American state should be a technocracy and its leaders chosen based off of scientific and technological knowledge. Advocates cite how the technological progress of the Anglo-American states can reach its fullest potential if any unified American state is lead by scientisits, technicials and other workers skilled in the field of science and/or technology. The idea was first introduced in the 1930s by the Technocracy Movement and is still promoted in the present day despite the movement having peaked in the late 1930s and early 1940s in popularity. Militant Continentalism Supporters Political organizations Various political organizations have sprung up in Anglo-America in the years following the dissolution of the United States and have been advocating for continentalism since the late 19th century. The oldest continentalist organization is the New Union Society of the United Commonwealth which was formed in 1898 by Hubert Whitehall, the child of a Union Army soldier and veteran of the American Civil War who fought the Confederate Uprising. Hubert became a politician and pushed for continentalist policies throughout his political career. In 1912, the World Continental Congress was established and became an international organization made up of continenalist political parties and organizations similar to the Communist International. Opponents Cultural Continentalism Iconography and symbols The colors of the United States flag, red, white and blue are commonly used in continentalist symbols, flags and iconography to show their love and support to the former United States and their desire to restore it. The color blue is commonly used in symbols, iconography and promotional material of the World Continental Congress from their banner to their posters. During the 1919 workers' strikes, workers and union members flew the Star Spangled Banner from the original flag during the revolutionary war to the flag flown during the American Civil War. White stars are commonly shown on continentalist symbols and are based off of the stars on the American flag. The most common symbol is the Four Star Diamon, a symbol with four white stars in diamond formation and all four symbolize the "four cornors of Anglo-America" according to the World Continental Congress. The diamond is shown on congress posters and material with white stars being used on signs and posters during rallies and protests. Icons of the founding fathers are also used and are displayed during cultural festivals and on Founders' Day. Notable flags and symbols WCC Logo.png|Banner of the World Continental Congress Diamond of Stars.png|Four Star Diamond CPUSA Logo.png|Symbol of Communist Continentalism Technocracy symbol.png|Symbol of Technocratic Continentalism Political and cultural views Demographics Holidays Continentalists have often celebrated various different holidays to commemorate the United States and its history. The most well known holiday is Founders' Day. The holiday is celebrated on June 28th to celebrate the submission of the first draft of the original Decleration of Independence to the Continental Congress. Every year, the holiday is celebrated with festivals in many towns and cities with large continentalist supporters and is also celebrated with the yearly America Festival, a festival celebrating the United States. The second most known continentalist holiday is Remembrance Day which mourns the loss of Abraham Lincoln, the last President of the United States, who was assassinated on April 14th, 1865 along with this entire cabinet. The holiday honors the loss of Lincoln and the dissolution of the United States that followed in the wake of the Confederate Uprising. Congress Day is another continentalist holiday that is celebrated every year on August 1st to celebrate the decleration of the creation of the World Continental Congress, the largest continentalist organization. The holiday is celebrated with a major dinner and opera that is attended by those who attended or are to attend the next congressional meeting. Other holidays are celebrated, but they vary upon each version of continentalism. One such example is Jarama Valley Day which honors the continentalists who volunteered in the International Brigades and fought in the Spanish Civil War and is celebrated by communist continentalists along with socialists, anarchists, democratic socialists and social democrats. Royalist continentalists celebrate the birthday of the Sierran monarch and many high ranking royalist continentalists have been able to attend the birthday celebration of the monarch. Public opinion Notable figures *Hubert A. Whitehall (1856-1911) - Founder and first leader of the New Union Society. *Philip Martin Gates (1872-1934) - Founder and first Secretary General of the New Continental Congress *Matthew Wallace (1889-1938) - Leader of the Continental Front and Secretary General of the World Continental Congress. *Karl Rosenberg (1890-1978) - Commonwealth communist activist, founding philosopher of Communist Continentalism and the founder and first Chairman of the Continentalist Workers' Party. Vice Secretar General of the World Continental Congress. *Douglas Freeman - Radical continentalist activist and leader of the International Continentalist Association. See also *Republicanism in Sierra *Monarchy of Sierra *United Commonwealth *Conference of American States Category:Altverse Category:Conference of American States Category:Philosophy Category:Ideologies Category:Continentalism